1918 in aviation
1900s |d=1910s |dn1=1920s |dn2=1930s |dn3=1940s }} This is a list of aviation-related events from 1918: Events *The Imperial Japanese Navy establishes its first lighter-than-air aviation unit.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, p. 15. * The naval aviation branch of the Chilean Army s air corps receives its first aircraft.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 199. * Spring 1918 – Three Imperial Japanese Navy Farman-type seaplanes fly nonstop from Yokosuka to Sakai, Japan, stretching the navy s aviation distance capabilities.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55750-432-6, p. 16. The cities are 391 km (243 statute miles) apart. * The French Army s ''Service Aeronautique'' employs four Breguet 14S air ambulances for casualty evacuation along the Aisne Front. Each aircraft can accommodate two stretcher cases.David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 185. January * Gunner-observer Captain John H. Hedley is thrown from the cockpit of his Bristol F2B Fighter without a parachute during a dogfight when his pilot, Captain Reginald "Jimmy" Makepeace puts the plane into a steep dive. After he falls several hundred feet, Hedley and the aircraft come back together and he manages to grab the fighter s after fuselage and crawl back into hs cockpit unharmed.Wilkinson, Stephan, "Amazing But True Stories," Aviation History, May 2014, p. 33. * January 5 – A rapid series of explosions and quickly spreading fires at the Imperial German Navy airship base at Tondern destroys four hangars and five airships in five minutes, killing four civilian workers and 10 naval personnel and injuring 134 naval personnel.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN number, pp. 237-238. * January 9 – In a dogfight over Moorslede, Belgium, with three Royal Flying Corps aircraft – an RE.8 of No. 21 Squadron and two SE.5as of No. 60 Squadron – the Albatros D.Va of German ace Max Ritter von Müller is shot down in flames. Von Müller jumps to his death to escape the fire. Von Müller s 36 victories will make him the 15th-highest-scoring German ace and high-scoring Bavarian ace of World War I.Franks, Norman, Aircraft Versus Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 63. * January 12 – A decree issued by the Council of Peoples Commissars of the Republic puts all Russian aircraft manufacturing companies under state control.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, ISBN 0-87474-510-1, p. 41. * January 25 – Second Lieutenant Carl Mather is killed in an aircraft collision at Ellington Field, Texas. The future Mather Air Force Base, later Sacramento Mather Airport, at Rancho Cordova, California, will be named for him. February * February 5 – Second Lieutenant Stephen W. Thompson achieves the first aerial victory by the U.S. military. * February 8 **The Lafayette Escadrille, the American volunteer squadron serving in the French Army, is transferred to the United States Army and redesignated the 103rd Aero Squadron. **The United States replaces the national insignia for its military aircraft adopted in 1917 ( ) with a roundel with an outer red ring, then a blue ring, and a white center . The Allies had requested the change out of a fear that the star in the 1917 U.S. marking could be mistaken for a German cross. The roundel will remain in use until the United States reverts to its former markings in August 1919.Angelucci, Enzo, with Peter Bowers, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1985, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, pp. 19. March * March 6 **The Finnish Air Force is founded **The first successful flight of a powered unmanned heavier-than-air craft, the Curtiss-Sperry Flying Bomb, takes place. It is the precursor to modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). * March 11 – The first regular international airmail service begins, with Hansa-Brandenburg C.I aircraft linking Vienna, Lviv, Proskurov, and Kiev. * March 15 – After an extensive conversion, re-enters service with the Royal Navy as the world s first aircraft carrier with aircraft lifts (elevators).Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 215. * March 18 – The first Norwegian airline, Det Norske Luftfartrederi, is founded * March 21 – Germany launches [[Operation Michael|Operation Michael]], marking the beginning of the Spring Offensive. In the initial attack against the British front west of St Quentin, the German Army Air Service has 1,680 aircraft to the Royal Flying Corps' 579. * March 24 – Captain John Lightfoot Trollope of the Royal Flying Corps No. 43 Squadron shoots down six German aircraft in a day. * March 25 – Ensign John McNamara makes the first United States Navy attack on a submarine. * March 27 – Under attack by several German Fokker Dr.I triplanes over Albert, France, 18-year-old Canadian Second Lieutenant Alan Arnett McLeod, the pilot of an Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 of the Royal Flying Corps s No. 2 Squadron, and his observer, Lieutenant Arthur Hammond, shoot down four of the German fighters before themselves being shot down in flames and crash-landing in no man's land. The seriously injured McLeod carries the badly wounded Hammond to the British lines, and, although McLeod is wounded again in the process, both men survive. McLeod will receive the Victoria Cross for his actions in a ceremony on September 4 at the age of 19, the youngest airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I.Kilduff, Peter, The Red Baron: Beyond the Legend, London: Cassell, 1994, ISBN 0-304-35207-1, pp. 16-17. * March 30 – Alan Jerrard VC, a British ace with seven victories, is shot down by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg and taken captive. April * April 1 **The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force, the world s first independent air force, with Sir Hugh Trenchard as the first Chief of the Air Staff.Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: Churchill s Epic Campaign - The Inside Story of the RAF s Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987, ISBN 0-671-68070-6, p. 39. The Women's Royal Air Force is formed at the same time. **A Vizefeldwebel Weimar becomes the first person to use a parachute in combat, when he successfully bails out of a German Albatros D.Va fighter.Guttman, John, "Heinecke Parachute: A Leap of Faith For German World War I Airmen," Military History, May 2012, p. 23. * April 4 – A two-seater aircraft takes off from a flying-off platform on a ship for the first time, when a Royal Air Force Sopwith 1½ Strutter launches from a platform mounted on a 12-inch (305-mm) gun turret of the Australian battlecruiser . By November 1918, ships of the British Grand Fleet will carry over 100 aircraft on flying-off platforms, by which time 22 light cruisers will have a flying-off platform and every battleship and battlecruiser will carry a two-seat aircraft on a platform mounted on a forward turret and a single-seat fighter on a platform mounted on an after turret.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, pp. 14-15. * April 4–5 (overnight) – Attacking the German Navy Zeppelin L 62 while piloting an F.E.2b over England, Royal Air Force Lieutenant C. H. Noble-Campbell of No. 38 Squadron is wounded in the head by machine-gun fire from L 62, but returns safely to base. It is the only occasion on which an attacking airman is wounded in combat with an airship.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN number, p. 238. * April 7 – The German submarine ''UB-53'' sees an airship catch fire accidentally and crash into the sea near the Strait of Otranto with the loss of all hands. It apparently is the German Navy Zeppelin L 59, modified for long-range flights, on the outbound leg of a flight from Yambol, Bulgaria, in an attempt to bomb the Royal Navy base at Malta.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN number, p. 236. * April 8 – A flight of Airco DH.4s makes the first independent raid of World War I by aircraft of the United States Army s Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, the forerunner of the United States Army Air Service.Infoplease: Famous Firsts in Aviation * April 12 **The final Zeppelin raid on England takes place. **Captain H. W. Woollett of No. 43 Squadron RAF scores six victories in two sorties, including five Albatros D.Vs. * April 21 – German ace Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces," is shot down and killed. By the time of his death, he hads claimed 80 victories. Credit for his kill is given to Canadian Captain Roy Brown, but this is disputed by others who claim that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops. His kill total will not be exceeded until 1941. * April 23 – Lieutenant Paul Baer shoots down his fifth aircraft, becoming the first ace of the American Expeditionary Force * April 25 – Belgium's top-scoring ace, Willy Coppens, claims his first victory. * April 27 – The United States Department of War creates a Division of Military Aeronautics responsible for the training of United States Army aviation personnel and units. * April 29 – Flying a Nieuport 28 fighter, the top-scoring American ace of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory, shooting down a German Pfalz D.III fighter near Baussant, France. May * May 10 – The German Navy Zeppelin L 62 explodes, breaks in half, and crashes in flames over the North Sea with the loss of all hands under mysterious circumstances. The German Naval Airship Service blames her loss on an accident, while the Royal Air Force claims that one of its Felixstowe F.2a flying boats shot her down.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN number, pp. 239-240. * May 13 – The United States issues its first air mail stamps to the public. They bear a picture depicting a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny".Anonymous, "Today in History," The Washington Post Express, May 13, 2013, p. 26. * May 15 - The first regular United States air mail service commences, between New York and Washington, D.C. The first flight is made by Lieutenant Geoffrey Boyle in a Curtiss JN-4H. * May 16 - The Imperial German Navy recommissions the light cruiser ''Stuttgart'' after her conversion into a seaplane carrier. She is the only German seagoing aviation ship capable of working with the fleet commissioned during either World War I or World War II.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 27. * May 19 **Raoul Lufbery, commander of the 94th (Hat in the Ring) Aero Squadron and second highest scoring American ace with 17 victories, is killed in air combat. **U.S. Army Major Harold M. Clark Jr. and Sergeant Robert P. Gay make the first interisland flight in Hawaii, flying from Fort Kamehameha on Oahu to Maui. They continue on to the island of Hawaii the same day, where they crash on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Uninjured, they wander on foot for a week before finding help.Aviation Hawaii: 1879-1919 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii * May 20 - German bombs fall on London for the last time in World War I. During their one-year-long heavier-than-air bombing campaign against England, the Germans have dropped 84,745 kg (186,830 lbs) of bombs and lost 61 bombers.Chant, Chris, The World s Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7607-2012-6, p. 26. * May 21 - President Woodrow Wilson creates a Bureau of Aircraft Production responsible for aeronautical equipment.Maurer, pp. 3-4. * May 24 **József Kiss, Austro-Hungarian fifth-highest-scoring ace, is shot down in combat. He had scored 19 victories. **In Russia, Order No. 385 of the Bolshevik People s Commissariat on Military and Naval Affairs creates the Main Directorate of the Workers and Peasants Red Air Fleet, the predecessor of the Soviet Air Forces.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, ISBN 0-87474-510-1, p. 36. **The United States Department of War recognizes the Bureau of Aircraft Production and the Division of Military Aeronautics as constituting the United States Army Air Service. * May 31 - Douglas Campbell scores his fifth victory, becoming the first American pilot to be become an ace while flying for an American-trained unit. June * From the basis of VIII Brigade, the Royal Air Force forms the Independent Force, tasked to mount a strategic bombing campaign against Germany "independently" of the ground and sea campaigns the Allies have been waging since 1914.Frankland, Noble, Bomber Offensive: The Devastation of Europe, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1970, p. 11. * A detachment of American bomber pilots is stationed in Italy to strike at Austria-Hungary. * The United States Marine Corps consolidates its aviation forces at the Marine Flying Field at Miami, to form the First Marine Aviation Force. Composed of four squadrons, the force will deploy to France for combat.Butler, Glen, Colonel, USMC, "That Other Air Service Centennial," Naval History, June 2012, p. 56. * Early June – The Royal Navy destroyer conducts towing trials with the NS-class blimp N.S.3 to see if an airship which runs out of fuel or suffers a mechanical breakdown can be towed at speed by a ship at sea. Vectis reaches nearly 20 knots with N.S.3 in tow during successful initial trials, but N.S.3 touches down on the sea on the final run.[http://web.mac.com/whatisart/iWeb/NS11/North%20Sea%20Three.html Turpin, Brian J., North Sea Three] * June 1 – The Australian ace Lieutenant Colonel Roderic Dallas, flying an SE.5a, is shot down and killed over Liévin, France, by the German ace Leutnant Johannes Werner in a Fokker Dr.I as Werner s sixth victory. Dallas s victory total of 51 will make him the highest-scoring Australian ace of World War I.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, pp. 38, 62. * June 4 – The first flight of the first all-metal stressed-skin fighter, the Dornier-Zeppelin D.I, takes place.* * June 5 – Douglas Campbell, the first American to become an ace while flying for an American-trained unit, scores his sixth and final victory. Badly wounded during the flight, he sees no further combat. * June 19 – Italy's highest-scoring ace, Maggiore (Major) Francesco Baracca, is killed by Austro-Hungarian ground fire. He had claimed 34 victories. * June 24 **The first scheduled Canadian airmail flight is made, between Montreal and Toronto. **The Royal Air Force employs its new 1,650-lb (748-kg) bomb in combat for the first time when a Handley Page O/400 of No. 216 Squadron drops one on Middelkerke, Belgium. July * During the month, the American writer William Faulkner arrives in Canada for flight training with the Royal Air Force. He still is in training there when the World War I ends, after which he returns to the United States.Caverlee, William, "Flyboy Faulkner", Aviation History, January 2011, p. 19. * July 9 – British ace James McCudden is killed when his aircraft crashes on take-off at Auxi-le-Château, France. He has 57 victories at the time of his death; enough to make him the seventh-highest-scoring ace of World War I. * July 14 – Flying a Nieuport 28, the youngest son of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, Second Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt – serving as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Service s 95th Aero Squadron – is shot down and killed by a German fighter over Chamery, France. * July 19 – Seven Royal Air Force Sopwith 2F.1 Camel fighters from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier attack the Imperial German Navy airship base at Tondern, destroying the Zeppelins ''L 54'' and ''L 60''. It is history s first air attack by conventional land planes launching from an aircraft carrier s flight deck and the most successful attack by shipboard aircraft of World War I.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 61.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 12. All seven Camels are lost: one crashes into the sea in bad weather, killing its pilot; two ditch in the sea, and their pilots are rescued by the British naval force escorting Furious; and four land in neutral Denmark, where they and their pilots are interned.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN number, pp. 241-242. One of the pilots recovered from the sea – Captain William F. Dickson, rescued by the destroyer tondernraid.com The Story of the Raid on Tondern, 19th July 1918 – is a future Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Chief of the Air Staff, and Chief of the Defence Staff. * July 21 – Two United States Navy seaplanes from Naval Air Station Chatham, Chatham, Massachusetts, attack a surfaced German submarine that is firing at a tug and three barges off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One bomb strikes the submarine, but is a dud.A Chronological History of Coast Guard Aviation: The Early Years, 1915-1938. * July 26 – Major Edward "Mick" Mannock, the United Kingdom's highest scoring ace of the war, is shot down by German ground fire and killed. He traditionally is credited with 73 victories as the highest-scoring British ace of World War I, but he never claimed that many and his actual score may have been 61. * July 30 **Lieutenant Frank Linke-Crawford, the fourth-highest-scoring Austro-Hungarian ace, is shot down and killed in aerial combat. He had scored 27 victories. **The United States Marine Corps s 1st Marine Aviation Force, minus one of its four squadrons, arrives at Brest, France, to become the first U.S. Marine Corps aviation force to serve in combat. Delays in transportation and the arrival of equipment will prevent it from operating until mid-October.Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 52. * July 31 **An aircraft takes off from platform installed on a towed lighter for the first time, when Royal Air Force Lieutenant Stewart Culley takes off in a Sopwith Camel from a lighter towed behind a British warship.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 15.The date of this event is placed on 1 August 1918 in Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters: The Fascinating Story of the Great Zeppelin Raids of the First World War, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p.251. **A Royal Air Force bombing raid over Germany by 12 Airco DH.9s suffers the loss of 10 aircraft shot down.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 97. August * A large petroleum barge on the Volga River in Russia is equipped with a flight deck and elevators (lifts) to carry up to nine Grigorovich M.9 flying boats and three Nieuport fighters. Named ''Kommuna'' and towed by a sidewheel paddle tug, she and her aircraft actively support operations of the Bolshevik Volga River Flotilla during the Russian Civil War.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 102. * August 1 **In the North Russia Campaign during the Russian Civil War, probably the first fully combined air, sea, and land military operation in history takes place, as Fairey Campania seaplanes from the Royal Navy seaplane carrier join Allied ground forces and ships in driving Bolsheviks out of their fortifications on Modyugski Island at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River in Russia, then scout ahead of the Allied force as it proceeds up the channel to Arkhangelsk. The appearance of one of the Campanias over Arkhangelsk induces the Bolshevik leaders there to panic and flee.Dobson, Christopher, and John Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow: The Allied War in Russia, 1918-1920, New York: Atheneum, 1986, no ISBN number, pp. 63-64. **French ace Lieutenant Gabriel Guérin is killed in action. His 23 victories will tie him with Lieutenant René Dorme for ninth-highest-scoring French ace of World War I.Franks, Norman, Aircraft Versus Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 62. * August 5–6 (overnight) – Five Imperial German Navy Zeppelins attempt to bomb the United Kingdom in the fourth and final such raid of 1918. All of their bombs fall through clouds into the North Sea, and the commander of the Naval Airship Division, Fregattenkapitän Peter Strasser, is killed in action when a Royal Air Force Airco DH.4 piloted by Major Egbert Cadbury and crewed by Captain Robert Leckie shoots down in flames the Zeppelin in which he is flying as an observer, ''L70'', over the coast of England.Cross, Wilbur, Zeppelins of World War I, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1991, ISBN 1-56619-390-7, pp. 175-179.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, pp. 245-248. After Strasser s death, Germany attempts no more airship raids against the United Kingdom. During their 1915-1918 bombing campaign, German airships have made 208 raids against England, dropped 5,907 bombs, killed 528 people, and injured 1,156.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, p. 8. * August 9 – Eight Italian Ansaldo SVA biplanes of the 87 Squadriglia "Serenimissa", led by Gabriele d'Annunzio, fly over Vienna for 30 minutes without interference from Austro-Hungarian forces, taking photographs and dropping leaflets before returning to base without loss.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 51. * August 10 **During a dogfight, the Fokker D.VII fighter of the German fighter ace Oberleutnant Erich Löwenhardt collides with another D.VII flown by Leutnant Alfred Wenz near Chaulnes, France. Both men bail out; Wenz survives, but Loewenhardt s parachute fails and he falls to his death from 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). Loewenhardt s score of 53 kills will make him the third-highest-scoring German ace of World War I. **After shooting down two enemy aircraft earlier in the day, the German ace Rudolf Berthold collides with an enemy plane during a dogfight with Sopwith Camels. His Fokker D.VII crashes into a house, injuring him; although he survives, he never flies another combat mission.firstworldwar.com Who's Who: Rudolf Berthold His total of 44 kills will make him the sixth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, pp. 58, 63. * August 11 **After taking off in a Sopwith Camel from a barge towed behind the destroyer [[HMS Redoubt (1916)|HMS Redoubt]], Royal Air Force Flight Sub-Lieutenant Stuart Culley shoots down the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin L 53, which had been flying a scouting mission over the North Sea. It is the first successful interception of an enemy aircraft by a shipborne fighter. German airships never conduct another scouting mission. L 53 s sole survivor is a crewman who parachutes from the Zeppelin at an altitude of 19,000 feet (5,791 m), almost certainly a record at the time.Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 251. L 53 is the last German airship destroyed during World War I. **The first use of a parachute from an airplane in combat occurs when a German pilot escapes his burning Pfalz D.III after being attacked by a pilot from the Royal Air Force s No. 19 Squadron. * August 14 – The French ace René Fonck shoots down three German aircraft in ten seconds in a head-on attack. All three crash within 100 meters (328 feet) of one another near Roye, France.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, pp. 56, 58. * August 19 – A U.S. Navy Curtiss 18-T-1 triplane sets a new world speed record of 163 mph (232.32 km/hr).Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 114. * August 22 – Lieutenant Frigyes Hefty of the Austro-Hungarian Air Corps successfully parachutes from his burning fighter after a dogfight with Italian aircraft. He is the first person to survive a combat parachute jump.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Hermes House, 2006, ISBN 9781846810008, p. 25. * August 27 – The first Director of the United States Army Air Service is appointed. September * Known as "Black September;" during the month the Allies lose 560 aircraft, of which 87 are American. * The Royal Air Force begins to issue parachutes to its squadrons for the first time. * September 7 – The U.S. Marine Corps s 1st Marine Aviation Force, building up in the Calais-Dunkirk area of France to operate as an element of the U.S. Navy s Northern Bombing Group, takes delivery of its first bomber. * September 12 – 627 French and 611 American fighters are brought together for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. At the time, it is the largest force of aircraft assembled for a single operation. * September 14 – The British aircraft carrier ''Argus'' is completed. She is the world s first aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck from stem to stern.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, pp. 66, 70. * September 18 **The German ace Georg von Hantelmann shoots down and kills the French ace Lieutenant Maurice Boyau while Boyau is attacking German observation balloons. Boyau s 35 kills will make him the fifth-highest-scoring French ace of World War I. **A U.S. Navy Curtiss 18-T-1 triplane piloted by Roland Rholfs sets a world altitude record of 34,910 feet (10,640 m). * September 24 – Lieutenant David Ingalls claims his fifth victory, to become the first U.S. Navy ace in history and the only one of World War I. * September 27 – During a dogfight with SE.5as of No. 32 Squadron, Royal Air Force, the Fokker D.VII fighter of the German ace Leutnant Fritz Rumey either collides with the SE.5a of Captain George Lawson or is shot down by Lieutenant Frank Hale. Rumey parachutes from his D.VII at 1,000 feet (305 meters) but falls to his death when his parachute fails. His 45 kills will make him the fifth-highest-scoring German ace of World War I. * September 28 – Flying an Airco DH.9 with the Royal Air Force s No. 218 Squadron, U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Everett R. Brewer (pilot) and Gunnery Sergeant Harry B. Wershiner (observer) become the first U.S. Marine Corps personnel to shoot down an enemy plane in aerial combat. They both are badly wounded during the engagement.Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing," Aviation History, May 2012, p. 53. * September 29 **United States Army Air Service Second Lieutenant Frank Luke, the second-highest-scoring American ace of World War I with 18 victories, is killed in action. **Second Lieutenant Chapin Barr becomes the first U.S. Marine Corps pilot to die in aerial combat. October * October 5 – The famous French pilot Lieutenant Roland Garros, who in 1915 had become the first man to shoot down another aircraft by firing a machine gun through a tractor propeller, is shot down and killed in combat near Vouziers, France. He has four victories at the time of his death. * October 11 – The Imperial German Navy's air command proposes that merchant ships be converted into Germany's first aircraft carriers with flight decks.Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87021-210-9, p. 28. * October 12 – The Imperial German Navy s Naval Airship Division flies its last combat mission.Phythyon, John R., Jr., Great War at Sea: Zeppelins, Virginia Beach, Virginia: Avalanche Press, Inc., 2007, p. 14. * October 14 **Baron Willy Coppens, highest scoring Belgian ace, is heavily wounded, ending his combat career. He had scored 37 victories, 34 of which were observation balloons. **The first all-U.S. Marine Corps air combat action in history takes place, when five Airco DH.4s and three Airco DH.9s bomb Pitthem, Belgium. On the return flight, German Fokker D.VII and Pfalz D.III fighters attack the bombers.Knapp, Walter, "The Marines Take Wing", Aviation History, May 2012, p. 50. Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot (pilot) and Gunnery Sergeant Robert Guy Robinson (gunner) become separated from the formation after their DH.4 loses power, then encounter 12 German fighters. Although Robinson is terribly wounded during the resulting dogfight, they hold off the Germans and Talbot lands at a Belgian hospital, where Robinson is treated. For this action, they will become the first U.S. Marine Corps aviators to receive the Medal of Honor during a ceremony on November 11, 1920.Borch, Fred L., and Robert E. Dorr, "Bravery Over Belgium," Military History, March 2012, p. 17. * October 25 – U.S. Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot dies in a crash during a test flight 11 days after the action for which he will receive a posthumous Medal of Honor in 1920. * October 28 – French ace Lieutenant Michel Coiffard is gravely wounded during a dogfight with German Fokker D.VII fighters. He flies back to base, where he dies of his wounds. His 34 kills will make him the sixth-highest scoring French ace of World War I. * October 29 – The Danish airline Det Danske Luftfartselskab, the oldest airline that still exists, is founded * October 30 – Flying a SPAD XIII fighter, Eddie Rickenbacker shoots down a German observation balloon near Remonville, France, for his 26th and final aerial victory. His 26 victories (22 aircraft and four balloons) will make him the top-scoring American ace of World War I. November * November 1 – The French fighter pilot René Fonck scores his 75th and final aerial victory. He ends the war as the highest-scoring Allied ace and second-highest scoring ace overall of World War I. * November 4 – Forty German Fokker D.VIIs attack nine Sopwith Camels of the Royal Air Force s No. 65 Squadron southeast of Ghent, Belgium. Camels of No. 204 Squadron join the action, and in the whirling dogfight which follows the British pilots claim 22 German aircraft either shot down or last seen headed earthward out of control.Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 63. * November 11 ** The Armistice with Germany brings World War I to an end. ** The Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, and Royal Air Force have suffered 16,623 casualties and the French Aéronautique Militaire approximately 8,500 casualties during World War I, while the German Air Service has suffered in excess of 15,000. ** Since the entry of the United States into World War I on April 6, 1917, the United States Marine Corps aviation force has grown from seven officers and 43 enlisted men to 282 officers and 2,180 enlisted men. December * December 12 **Captain R. M. Smith, Brigadier General A. E. Borton, and Major General W. Salmond set out in a Handley Page O/400 from Heliopolis to Karachi, to survey a route for airmail to India. **An airplane is launched from an airship for the first time, when the U.S. Navy blimp ''C.1'' drops a Curtiss JN-4 into flight over Fort Tilden, New York.Clark, Basil, The History of Airships, New York: St Martin's Press, 1961, Library of Congress 64-12336, p. 147. * December 13 – Major A. S. C. MacLaren and Captain Robert Halley set out on the first England-India flight, in a Handley Page V/1500 First flights * SEA IV * Early 1918 – Orenco BAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 378. * Summer 1918 – Breguet 17Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 186. * Late 1918 – Victor ScoutAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 427. January * BAT F.K.22Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 93. February *Nieuport B.N.1 *Vought VE-7Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 430. March * March 4 – Airco DH.10 * March 6 – Curtiss-Sperry Flying Bomb * March 10 – Junkers D.I * March 13 – Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.4 * March 21 – Curtiss HA Dunkirk FighterSwanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 424.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 116. April * Avro 531 SpiderDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 77. * April 5 – Curtiss USAO-1 May * BAT F.K.23 Bantam I * Curtiss CB BattleplaneAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 117. * Handley Page V/1500 * Martin K-3Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 293. * May 15 – Packard-Le Peré LUSAC-11Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 195, claims that this flight was in "mid-August 1918." June * June 6 – Fairey III July * July 4 – Engineering Division USB-1Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 196. * July 5 – Curtiss 18-T-1 Wasp August * Loening M-8Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 291. * August 7 – Blériot-SPAD S.XX * August 17 – Martin MB-1 * August 21 – Nieuport-Delage Ni-D 29 September * September 5 – Orenco C * September 19 – Sopwith Buffalo * September 30 – U.S. Navy C-class blimp October * October 2 – Kettering Bug November * November 19 – Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.5 * Thomas-Morse MB-2Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 420. Entered service April * Airco DH.9Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 39. June * Airco DH.9ADonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 40. August * Fokker D.VIII References 1918 in aviation Aviation Category:Years in aviation